December 10, 1915 – One Millionth Ford Rolls Off Assembly Line at River Rouge Plant in Detroit
At first, Henry Ford had built his cars like every other automaker did: one at a time. But his factories’ efficiency and output steadily increased, and after he introduced the moving assembly line in 1913 the company’s productivity soared. Ford was determined to build what he called “a motor car for the great multitude,” and that’s just what he did: By mass-producing just one kind of car–from 1908 on, that car was the Model T–Ford could take advantage of economies of scale that were unavailable to smaller carmakers and pass the savings on to his customers. Between 1908 and 1927, Ford sold more than 15 million Model Ts in all; they cost $850 at first (about $20,000 in today’s dollars) but by the end of their run, Ford had managed to reduce the price to just $300 (about $3700 today).
Quite an accomplishment 100 years ago!